Henry’s advisory role part-time

Both Brian Toohey and John Kehoe are labouring under the mistaken belief that the special adviser to the Prime Minister, former secretary of the Treasury
Ken Henry,
has responsibilities for advising the Prime Minister on a broad range of economic issues (“Henry’s conflicts of interest" and “A clean break would be more comforting", October 8-9).

Henry’s role as a special adviser is limited to his leadership of work on the white paper on Australia in the Asian Century, announced by the Prime Minister on September 28. This is a part-time role for which he will be paid on a pro rata basis. He is not performing any other work for the government and he is not advising the Prime Minister or the Treasurer on economic issues, as both Toohey and Kehoe imply.